Mili is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language survival thriller film directed by Mathukutty Xavier, and is a remake of his own 2019 Malayalam-language film Helen. Produced by Boney Kapoor and Zee Studios, the film stars Janhvi Kapoor, Sunny Kaushal and Manoj Pahwa. It follows the titular character Mili Naudiyal, who gets stuck in a storage freezer and fights to stay alive.
Principal photography took place from August to November 2021 in Mumbai and Dehradun. The film's music was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. It was distributed by Zee Studios and released theatrically on 4 November 2022. The film received mixed reviews from critics and failed at the box office, though Jahnvi Kapoor's performance received praise.
Plot
Mili Naudiyal is a B.Sc Nursing graduate and attends IELTS coaching classes intended for a job abroad, specifically Canada. She works part-time at a restaurant named Doon's Kitchen, located within a plush mall. She lives with her father Niranjan Naudiyal, who does not agree with her going to Canada. Unknown to Niranjan, Mili has a boyfriend Sameer Kumar, who also does not agree with her Canada plans. Sameer is in search of a job and has some habits Mili is trying to fix.
One night, while Sameer is taking Mili home by scooter, they are stopped by police who penalise him for not wearing a helmet while driving and drunk driving, unknown to Mili, and they both are brought to the police station. Niranjan gets called into the station as well, and is extremely upset with seeing his daughter with a boy who has committed a crime; he does not talk to her for days despite her several attempts of creating conversation and apologising. Mili also ends all contact with Sameer, despite his multiple attempts of contacting her. Sameer even shows up to her workplace to try and reconcile, but is just shut down by Mili.
One night after work, Mili is asked by her co-workers to put some boxes in the storage freezer before she leaves. As she is doing so, she is accidentally locked inside by her manager, Sudheer Malkoti, thinking that no one is inside the restaurant because everyone, including Mili, has clocked out. As the temperature slowly decreases, eventually reaching -18 °C, Mili has to survive in the freezing cold and tries every possible solution to keep herself alive. At one point, she tries to block the exhaust fan but ends up dislocating her leg. She even starts to get frostbite.
Niranjan starts getting worried that Mili has not reached home as it is getting late. He searches for Mili with the help of his neighbour. They resort to calling all her co-workers, but none of them seem to know anything. Sameer, who was on his way to Delhi half-heartedly for a job, returns after hearing that Mili is missing and also joins the investigation, much to Niranjan's dismay. Niranjan and his neighbour continuously suspect that Sameer knows something that they do not, despite Sameer's multiple attempts to try and connect with Niranjan. The search party, which seems to grow by the hour, make multiple attempts to call the police station and garner help, but are instead met with lazy reponses by Sub-inspector Satish Rawat, who tells them that Mili must have just ran away with Sameer and to keep looking on their own.
Eventually, the search party gets fed up with the lazy responses they are getting, as is Rawat's partner. They decide go to the police station to file a case for Mili, and are instead greeted by Rawat, which is when they realise he is the same cop who arrested Sameer and Mili earlier. He is adamant that Sameer and Mili ran off together and that Sameer is lying to everyone about Mili's whereabouts. Although he did not believe Sameer's innocence at first, Niranjan tries to defend him, causing tension between Rawat and the search party. Rawat's boss, Inspector Ravi Prasad, arrives at the station, scolding Rawat for his behaviour and reassuring Niranjan and Sameer that they will try their hardest to find Mili. From this point on, Prasad takes over the case.
Meanwhile, Mili is desperately trying to save herself, while her phone is sitting in the restaurant buzzing every few minutes with calls from her father. At some point, Mili finds a mouse, and tries to save its life as well as her own. She starts growing extremely weak, and covers herself in boxes to try and stay warm; the mouse eventually dies from hypothermia.